Friday Foto Fiesta....Really? 20 years???

It's hard to believe my 20th high school reunion is this weekend. We will be on vacation so we won't make the reunions but so much has happened since then it's really hard to believe. If I could talk to that young lady today I would tell her so many things - the first being that she should really tame the hair a little - it's a look that people will cackle about for ages. Secondly I'd say I was FINALLY on the right track. I wasn't the best kid in high school by any means. My junior year I mastered the art of skipping (shopping was WAY more fun) and realized that I wouldn't have a chance of graduating if I stayed with the current group of kids at the current school. I decided to turn things around my senior year. I asked, err fought, the principal to get a special transfer to another school. My parents stood behind me but they did make it MY fight. I half believe they made me do it because they didn't think I could make it happen. Of course what I want to believe is they did it as one of those monumental life lessons that would effect me for the rest of my life. I had to plead my own case to the principal of the school I was leaving and to the principal of the school I was wanting to transfer to. I received my transfer and left all the kids I knew since elementary school to go to a new school for only a few hours a day (I was in the work program so I was out by 11:30). It was scary - but I knew I had to do it. Looking back, I'm so proud of myself for seeing what I had to do and attacking the situation. For seeing what I needed to do to better myself - not to have more fun while in school.

The other thing I would tell that young lady is to not sweat the small stuff and just ENJOY school. I know aging brings many blessings of knowledge and hind sight but I would definitely seek out a more positive way of thinking earlier in life. I'm sure the boys influenced that change in me a lot - but I just imagine my teens and 20's would be more fulfilling if I jumped to find the silver lining earlier. I'd also tell her the love of her life was picking her up later and to enjoy each moment even more. Now that I'm older, I look back and see moments in time when I COULD have embraced the moment more. Those small trips that Nerdlacious and I used to take, could have been relished more....I always enjoyed them but we didn't always push for the extreme experience. Doing another tank dive in Cancun, swimming with the dolphins in Hawaii - those are things I wish we had of just DONE instead of hem'd and haw'd about. We always thought "We'll come back and do it again some day" but the fact of the matter is - we're not SURE we will - we can only hope. Every day is unknown and it's outcome isn't in stone...live in the moment and to it's fullest, don't save it for another day. We now attack each day in this way and life is so much richer because of it - every experience means so much more.

SO this picture is my senior picture - it represents the end of the grade school era but it also represents my awakening to the truths I needed to face. The picture was taken at my old high school and was posted in their year book and didn't touch the pages of the school I actually did graduate from. Regardless of which year book has this picture - and how awful that 80's hair really is - I'm glad I'm me and I'm proud of the lessons I learned that year.

Join in on the Friday Foto Finish Fun that Candid Carrie organizes for us!